Our Social Bond With Rivers People Won’t Be Broken – Gov Fubara
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has said that the social contract between his administration and Rivers people will remain an unbroken bond to drive governance on a healthy footing.
He also challenged service providers for the Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA), to redouble their efforts and make sure that refuse wastes are cleared off the streets promptly in order to have cleaner city always.
Fubara, who was represented by the Head of Rivers State Civil Service, Dr George Nwaeke, gave the charge when he received a delegation of leaders and members of RIWAMA Service Providers Association, on a Solidarity Walk to Government House Gate in Port Harcourt on Friday.
The Governor appreciated their daily toiling to make sure that the streets of Port Harcourt and the environs are free of refuse and kept clean.
He noted that a clean and hygienic environment is one enduring way that a government can also stay connected with the people, and ensure that they are not exposed to unhealthy living conditions.
According to Fubara; “I want to describe you as ambassadors of this government. I say so because when people enter a city, like driving into Port Harcourt, they may not have the opportunity of entering our individual houses. If they have a place they’re going to, they can go there.
“But they will be able to assess the level of governance by the cleanliness and orderliness observed on the streets. And anyone driving into Port Harcourt now will see that, to a large extent, there is sanity.
“And it would not be good that people will visit our streets and find them littered with dirt and unkempt. I know that some people are trying to sabotage what you are doing. But we know that you can put some measures in place to report such sabotage to the authorities.”
The Governor said because so much has been given to them, so much is also expected of them in remaining true to their responsibilities and committing wholly to them.
He said, “If we join to demarket our State, we will have ourselves to blame. When we demarket Port Harcourt, demarket Rivers State, and all the good people that want to bring in their money to invest here begin to run away, remember that it is our own future that we are destroying.
“Do you want the future of your children to be destroyed? The time to rebuild is now. And we have someone who knows how to lay the foundation. The Governor is laying very good foundations. This Governor, if you watch carefully, what he is doing, he is busy laying the foundation that will benefit all of us.”
Earlier, leader of the delegation and Chairman of RIWAMA Service Providers Association, Comrade Andrew Ijegba, said they embarked on the Solidarity Walk to join in the ongoing celebration of the one year in office anniversary of the Governor.
Ijegba said they constituted the team of persons who operate all refuse evacuation trucks, street sweepers and other levels of service offered towards ensuring that the city is free of refuse and kept clean.
“When the Governor came into office, we sent a request to him that had been on the table for years but to our greatest surprise, in less than two months, the Governor approved it.
“That gave us the spirit of togetherness. He showed by that response, that he is a Governor that has listening ears. So, on that note, today, we decided that we are going to join to celebrate him, and also let him know that we are with him 100 percent,” he said.
